2 stabbed in Kotlik after school lockdown

A Kotlik teen Alaska State Troopers say stabbed and wounded two people Friday is in custody, after a confrontation which left the local school on lockdown.

Rick Andrews, 19, was arrested in the community of about 640 people, roughly 35 miles northwest of Emmonak, on two counts of second-degree assault and one count of third-degree assault, troopers said in a Saturday dispatch.

Word of “a person walking around the village of Kotlik with a knife” reached troopers just before 1 p.m. Friday. Investigators later learned that Andrews “was upset about something” when he traveled to the school, while it was still in session for the day.

“The principal of the school saw Andrews walking toward the entryway with a large knife in his hand,” troopers wrote. “The principal initiated a school lockdown just before Andrews made it to the front door. Andrews began hitting the door trying to gain entry and then made verbal threats to the principal wanting to kill him and stab him.”

As troopers flew into town from Emmonak, the school’s principal warned residents of the lockdown by UHF radio. Soon afterward, Andrews allegedly tried to make his way around the school building and find another way inside.

“Two residents of Kotlik, one male and one female arrived on scene to help and both were stabbed in the chest and stomach area by Andrews,” troopers wrote. “One victim managed to get the knife away and threw it into a nearby pond. Andrews fled the scene leaving the victims on the boardwalk.”

Two more people were able to hold Andrews down and detain him until troopers arrived, according to the dispatch. The stabbing victims were flown to Bethel, where they were in stable condition Saturday.

Andrews was booked into Bethel’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Correctional Center on his assault charges in the case.

Troopers have recovered the knife used in the stabbing, and say alcohol was not a factor in the case.